Of all the cars I own, there’s one that seems to stop people in their tracks: My 1954 Willys CJ-3B. It’s unusual. Its tall hood — there because Willys-Overland decided to shove a more powerful overhead valve engine into a vehicle designed for a flathead, and didn’t want to do a full redesign — just looks bizarre and gives the Jeep a tall, narrow feel. It’s utilitarian, tough, but also friendly thanks to big, dopey round headlights. Everyone stops me at darn near every gas station to talk about this Jeep. But I just sold it — without question my most interesting car in the eyes of the masses. Here’s why.
I’m the happiest I’ve ever been thanks to a wonderful wife and baby boy, and yet, that happiness has required a shift away from something that has brought me years of happiness: having a double-digit collection of cars.
The one standout thing I’m learning about fatherhood is that there is no replacement for time. My baby boy sits there in his bouncy-chair looking at me with loving eyes. He kicks his legs, bounces back and forth, and just stares, waiting for me to make some funny face or to pick him up and fly him like an airplane through the air. I reach for my phone to reply to a work text, and I know he’s still looking at me. Every second I stare into the abyss that is my cellular device, I’m pained to know that my baby boy — a blessing by all measures, and someone whose formative infant years will fly by in no time — is there, desperate for my attention. It’s like this for 16 hours a day, with the other eight luckily going to a nice, healthy, trouble-free night of sleep each night. (A miracle to most parents, I know).
Luckily, my loving wife looks after Delmar when I’m working, but my return to my house — upon which he looks at me entering the door and smiles an enormous smile — reminds me daily of how much my presence means. It pains me to leave everyday. But it’s life; duty calls, and our setup is better than most; I’m grateful for that.
Time has become more precious than ever, and the way I see money has also shifted. Not only does our old house need some work (plumbing, most notably. It’d also be nice to have a fence to keep coyotes away; last night my wife took the trash out — something that I’ve tried insisting that only I do — and almost walked into one of two coyotes hanging out in our front yard), but I’ve got to provide for a family now in a way that single-me never had to, and then there’s the 529 college savings plan for my child’s future, health care costs, schooling and various club fees and on and on.
This, you can probably understand, represents a monumental shift in my obligations. Whereas before I literally bought any car I wanted, even on the modest Gawker Media Salary (thanks largely to the fact that I just bought broken versions of the already-cheap cars I liked, and fixed them up myself), now years later I cannot just buy a car. Doing so has significant effects on other people.
To be clear, my wife, Elise, has never told me not to buy a car. In fact, I think she’s promoted me buying cars because she sees the joy they bring me. But that joy can only exist without significant opportunity costs. I can’t have $9000 tied up in a 1954 Willys CJ-3B that I only occasionally drive (since its top speed is about 45 mph, it’s not a great daily driver for freeway-centric LA), and only by myself since it’s a deathtrap not suitable for a child seat. It’s pretty much impossible to justify when there are other needs here beyond my own desire to own cool old cars.
And so the Willys is now sold:
Will I ever own another Willys CJ-3B? Probably not. They’re too rare, and beyond that, I think if I own another flatfender it will be one that I off-road frequently. And for that job, I’d really prefer the lower-hood, more-easily-serviceable Willys M38. But not anytime soon.
A few days after the sale, I feel no regret. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted selling a car, and I think that owes itself to the fact that I have plenty of others to love. I’m whittling my collection down according to the plan I laid out last month in my article “Here Are The Six Cars I’m Keeping In My Collection, And Why.” As a reminder, here are the vehicles that made the cut:
2021 BMW i3S — The Futuristic Daily Driver
1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ — The California Convertible (And Also My Wedding Jeep)
1992 Jeep Cherokee XJ — My First Car (To Eventually Be Restored)
1985 Jeep J10 — The Truck’s Truck
1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 5Spd — The Rare Holy Grail Overland Vehicle
My Brother’s 1966 Ford Mustang
Six cars is still a lot of cars! Four of them are projects, two can be reliably daily-driven (the i3S and YJ). This now leaves only the old Nash Metropolitan and the 1989 Chevy K1500 as the vehicles I need to offload.
I could see myself maybe holding onto the K1500 if there’s not enough demand on the marketplace. No reason to give away a perfectly good truck that could offer me utility in the short term, especially since I’m about to take on my hardest vehicle project yet.
Yes, I’m getting rid of some cars and hopefully bring the count down to six (plus my wife’s Lexus RX 350), but The Autopian just signed a business deal with an epic partner, and that deal is going to have me wrenching harder than I’ve ever wrenched, and against the clock. How I’ll pull this off with a child and while running a car website is… not something I’m 100% sure of, but I’ve got to figure it out. Maybe he can help me reach the tight spots. More on that soon.
For now, I’m glad my CJ-3B has a new home; the buyer, from India, was specifically looking for a CJ-3B, since it’s the Willys Jeep most common where he’s from given that Willys-Overland allowed Mahindra to build them in India under license for decades. He’s going to love my old machine in a way that, right now, I just can’t.
“since its top speed is about 45 mph, it’s not a great daily driver for freeway-centric LA”
Considering the state of traffic in LA, 45mph may be a bit optimistic
I’ve noticed that LA traffic has two settings: Parking lot and Indy 500. There’s no in between. Either traffic is moving so slow that a 45 mph top speed would be blazing fast, or traffic is moving so fast that you’re doing 80 mph in your Smart Fortwo and get passed by a box truck that’s going even faster.
Even in the 80s it was like that. I remember doing 75 on the Long Beach Freeway in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was in that moment that I got a hint of what it’s like to be in a NASCAR race. But I wasn’t wrestling with aerodynamics or people intentionally bumping into me. It was harrowing for a Northern Californian.
I can remember when the freeways allowed 80 mph crosstown traffic.
Now I know people there that never willingly use a freeway.
Certainly not the 405 in L.A. ! . =8-) .
-Nate
I don’t know numbers other than the 5, but I meant LA freeways.
It has been awhile, but going crosstown was fast!
Last few times I’ve been there, I didn’t get to see people I wanted to, as travel time is too slow now!
When relatives were in LA in the war industry, only one owned a car!
‘THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS’
Honestly, I just don’t get owning multiple cars… it just seems like a huge time and money sink. It is a fun hobby for sure, but I can only see only owning a daily driver and one project car making sense.
That way when you have spare time, you can focus on the one project car and actually make progress and maybe even finish it. Then if you really enjoyed the process of fixing up the car, sell it and buy another fixer upper to wrench on. For me the process of fixing/repairing things is what I enjoy most. Once fixed, its times to let it go.
So I don’t get too flamed for my opinion, I will admit owning a daily driver, owning a reliable older truck (like the the K1500… most certainly not the J10!) for hauling parts and owning one project car makes sense if you have the room to have three vehicles.
I do a ridiculous amount of home reno work and survive with one car. The new Ioniq 5 is too nice for hauling home reno materials. The cheap solution? I’m getting a hitch for the Ioniq 5 so I can rent a Uhaul trailer when I want to haul materials for home renovation work. 2500 pounds hauling capacity is more than enough for me and way cheaper than buying and insuring an old truck for hauling materials.
I’ve got a daily driver, a (driving) project car, and a motorcycle. Even with just that, I feel like I don’t use them all enough, or the stars align and all of them will need work at the same time.
I’m not going to be ditching anything anytime soon, but I can’t help but feel that people with that many vehicles always have something rotting away because they can’t get to it.
I’m with you Bbb123. One car per household person. And a scooter for short errands or fun rides.
I’ve never contemplated automotive polygamy and the additional insurance and registration fees just seems like an unnecessary financial drain.
But that’s just me and my priorities. No judgement to others who can and want to deal with the drain.
You’re right that it is a bit of a luxury, but sometimes it just kind of happens. My wife has her car (2020 Rav4) and I have my daily (2011 Scion Xb, paid off) and my truck (1998 Tacoma, paid off). I inherited the Scion as my daily when we bought the Rav4 since I liked driving it and it was worth more to me as a daily to keep the Tacoma from the wear and tear of commuter driving than we were going to get on trade.
None of the 3 is a project and, aside from a slowly leaking water pump gasket on the Tacoma (ALWAYS use OEM gaskets kids…) all three are fully operational. Both the Rav4 and the Scion are used for daily commutes (car pooling and public transit aren’t viable options) and the Tacoma is typically driven on weekends only for mountain biking or other hobbies or home projects, but sits during the week and rarely sits longer than that. I’ll admit, the Scion could handle 90% of the hauling I do with the truck (that capacity is one of the things I like about it) but I’ll admit I just like having the old Tacoma and know I’d never be able to buy another one for a price I could justify and we have a 3-car garage…
Honestly your car setup rocks! Two fully paid off cars with the rav4 probably fully paid off soon too hopefully. I like the rav4 and the Scion is a very cool car and probably a lot of fun to drive. I could see myself enjoying and using your car lineup 100%.
Keeping the Tacoma for weekend hobbies seems perfect. Putting muddy mountain bikes in the bed when done riding sounds even better.
Thanks! You can see why I have the garage I do…
The Rav4 really isn’t bad at all, there’s a reason they are so popular (although in hindsight, we should have got the hybrid instead of the ICE but it made sense at the time).
We bought the Scion because it was, frankly, the cheapest car that fit our needs after my wife’s old car was totaled in an accident. It took about a year to really grow on me but I really like it, it’s just really good at being a very practical, capable car and I can really appreciate that. I was happy to inherit it as my daily when my wife got the Rav4.
The Tacoma is just going to be a lifetime vehicle, I’m keeping that thing until one of us dies (my money is on me going first). I’m the second owner and just rolled over 180k and the frame is rust-free so considering it gets run through full-heat cycles so the fluids stay happy, I don’t see it going anywhere any time soon. As you alluded to, it’s also just about perfect for throwing a couple mountain bikes over a tailgate pad. Keeping a paid-off $10k truck starts to make a lot of sense when you look at the cost of a lot of hitch-mount bike racks…
Sometimes you can get away with one car that will meet all of your needs, but I find that having cars to suit specialized jobs makes doing those jobs more enjoyable. Plus, it lets me have a little variety in my day-to-day life. I have my daily, my wife has hers, but we also have a big SUV for towing and hauling furniture and the like. We need the towing capacity to haul the “reliable” track car (there’s no way I’m taking my daily on track), and then for fun I have the “unreliable” track car project that I enjoy working on.
So that’s 5 cars, but since each of them has its own niche, they balance out well.
(Also, in total I purchased all 5 for about $16k, so I’m not advocating for a life of luxurious excess by any means).
So cool. Two tracks cars sounds like fun to me. You also can totally justify having a large SUV for towing. You are actually using it for what it was made to do.
I love seeing big pickup trucks and SUVs being used to tow large loads like your track cars. (Seeing them only used to go the mall parking lot… not so much.)
I doubt I’ll ever get into track cars but I can totally respect and honestly envy your setup.
Thanks, and I will also totally admit that owning and maintaining 5 vehicles is a time sink for sure, especially since they’re old and cheap. There are downsides that you definitely identified in your original post. It works for me but there are definitely times when I’m elbows deep in an unexpected maintenance task for the 3rd time this summer where I question my choices lol.
Buy or build a light trailer with a good suspension.
Mine is 8 feet 2 inches long and can be pulled by a very light car.
Best money I ever spent.
Long term that is definitely the plan! Right now, my place has limited parking space so I have nowhere convenient to store the trailer when not in use. So rental uHaul trailers for me until I can figure out place where to keep a trailer.
I forgot to mention such a trailer can be easily moved by hand, a highly undervalued attribute.
Often trailers can be stored by tipping up on one end……
Those who want will accumulate vehicles, nothing wrong with it .
I’m getting near the end of the line so I’ve been giving away my projects .
-Nate
If I can ever figure out discord, I’d like to hear what they are.
I have a 70s jet boat, near perfect, but no engine. And my only plans are to enjoy having it for now.
I’ve known people that had future car plans on their deathbed.
I think that’s okay too.
If I can’t drive in the future, I plan to have something interesting someone else can drive me around in.
You’re showing wisdom .
Me, I’m cleaning up / out and have given away several cool old cars just to be free of them .
I have recently purchased what I hope to be my last and “old Man’s car”, also I have finished (nearly) my old man Motocycle, it’s a tiny little thing I should be able to ride as long as I can walk .
I agree, having vehicle plans they day you die is a very good thing but my son wants nothing of mine to I need to clear it all out whilst I still can .
I received 6 notices of replies but so far only two replies .
-Nate
I’m still. learning how it all works.
And my phone was making mysterious bingbongs before Autopian!
Just do what’s best for you.
I bought a shop grade charger on wheels.
Rizk National.
Made in USA.
Congrats! IMHO that thing was rare and weird but also awkward looking. Interesting, sure, but not smething to fall in love with.
ONWARD WITH PROJECT ZJ!!!!!
Also the 1500 is a much better truck than the J10. And has jump seats for kids. 😛
There is a common progression…
Phase 1: Single and carefree. “Safety rating is overrated”
Phase 2: New parent. “I can’t drive my newborn in this car.”
Phase 3: Full responsibilities weigh in. “I can’t drive this car among tank-like SUVs piloted by distracted people. If anything happens my child will be left fatherless.”
DT may follow, or he may choose his own path.
Great, now try explaining this to the ‘you can’t care about what I drive!’ crowd. It used to be ‘Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. but now it’s ‘Keep your nose out of the way of my fist, loser!’
Phase 4: The kid’s activities cost HOW much per year?!?
Don’t get me wrong, I regret none of it. But the daughter’s dance tuition was equal to the payment on an awful nice car each month.
Yeah, part of the price of private school included driving a Saturn SL2 for 16 years. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good car that more than served its purpose, but not the world’s most fun even with a manual. Still well worth it, no regrets.
Hopefully with a turret
Rheinmetall with a deck gun!
Though I bet you could blend into much of LA with a technical.
It might be a good idea to start bringing the trash out on the way out to work in the morning if you can. I’m not really sure what else you can do about coyotes. Even if you could shoot them, I hear they have larger litters to compensate for the losses. That said, we have bigger ones in the northeast and they haven’t done anything aggressive (had them watch me from the woods—the reflections from their tapetum lucidum is a giveaway—but they run when they’re in sight) and I’m surrounded by ponds and woods and frequently hear them howling and partying at night. Obviously, don’t let any pets out. Lot of missing pets around here and I have trail cam footage of one carrying the front half of a cat up the driveway at around 05:00.
“I’m not really sure what else you can do about coyotes. Even if you could shoot them, I hear they have larger litters to compensate for the losses”
Oh I have no doubt hunters can pull triggers way faster than coyotes can have litters. Declare year round open season on those cat murderers and coyotes will soon join passenger pigeons on the extinct species list.
They’re considered a pest species, so there is no limitation as far as I’ve heard. In the city/town, it’s doubtful they could be completely eradicated due to inability to shoot willy-nilly. Plus, there have been changes in attitudes and knowledge since the passenger pigeon and the coyote’s scrappy adaptability is how they have out-survived wolves in many places. They’re closer to rats in that regard and we still have those. Incidentally, they eat rats. Much of the problem is the stupidity of people. “Oh, but my little kitty just has to be outside (to murder all kinds of birds)! It’s my right to let him out!” Yup, and that’s why he was eaten, so stop crying and accept accountability for your actions. Or people complaining when they get followed while walking their rodent-sized ornamental yippie “dogs” that are basically teasing the coyotes with a walking Big Mac. Get a real dog or a pet that doesn’t need to be walked, that’s a higher maintenance hamster with an even worse personality. We’re baiting them and that’s why they’ve adapted to live around us.
I would have welcomed a couple coyotes when one of the neighbors was nuisance feeding “baby squirrels”. I think she meant rats, because that population has substantially decreased since she moved.
I adopted a long term stray cat.
Even well fed, he eradicated every squirrel for blocks.
“Oh, but my little kitty just has to be outside (to murder all kinds of birds)! It’s my right to let him out!”
It seems you don’t know cats. Cats need a lot of stimulation which they get naturally from going outdoors. Trying to convert an adult cat that’s had a taste of outdoor life to indoor only is a recipe for an unhappy cat and a shredded, urine filled home, especially if they see other cats out there having fun. Go ahead, ask me how I know.
While cats do kill a lot of birds humans kill far, far more. As far as invasive species go nothing compares to humans. So how about we keep humans inside instead? And since a lot of birds are killed by flying into windows those have to go too.
“Yup, and that’s why he was eaten, so stop crying and accept accountability for your actions.”
If a kid was abducted and murdered would you berate the parents for letting the kid play outside? Or would you demand the police hunt down the murderer?
I can’t even comprehend how necessary and static parts of architecture are analogous to an unnecessary invasive species purposely unleashed by selfish people and I normally wouldn’t respond, but I had too many mangoes and ended up on the shitter. What the cat wants is irrelevant. If you don’t have an appropriate place for a cat, don’t get one. If it can’t adapt to its environment (something cats are very adept at), there are millions more in shelters that could use a home that might be more grateful and you’ll have a chance to pick one of them up if the outdoor one gets eaten. So, go ahead and let them out—I’m not holding your door shut, but don’t cry and moan like my idiot neighbors when it’s eaten by the local wildlife in the same manner the cat kills the local wildlife. I should have showed them my video of the one torn in half trailing its entrails like the ghost of its missing tail and asked if they recognized it. The owner, as the creature with the responsibility for the cat’s safety, is at fault for that and they should feel bad about what happened. I imagine it was torn in half during a tug of war.
Though I would love to, I cannot do anything about human invasiveness and none of us really can individually, but if we can’t control a house cat, maybe we shouldn’t have pets.
A coyote is a native animal that subsists on native animals as a necessary balancing component of the ecosystem and you’re comparing that to a situation where a child is abducted by some human for amusement or whatever reason people do that kind of thing. If that makes sense to you, then have a good one. Timing works out as I think the mango has completed its journey, so I’m done.
Would you prefer the comparison be a kid playing outside being attacked by a bear?
https://www.today.com/news/boy-attacked-bear-backyard-new-york-rcna101362
The point is victim blaming is never a good look, whether it be a against a grieving cat owner or parent.
“if we can’t control a house cat, maybe we shouldn’t have pets”
By that reasoning since parents can’t always fully control their children maybe people shouldn’t have children. God knows there are plenty of people who should never have had children but did anyway.
Cats going outside isn’t the problem any more than is letting humans go outside to be hit by a car, raped, killed or robbed. Humans have created communities and they have chosen to include pets into those communities where coyotes are considered pests. The same is true of animals that attack humans
I have no problem with an idealized coyote whom leaves pets alone living only on other pests but coyotes gonna coyote so they need to be removed from human dominated areas. If TNR isn’t viable then it’s time for open season.
My last canine companion was a ten-pound Shih Tzu that was a bit yippy when she lived with my parents and aunt but settled right down when she moved in with me. Granted, I would take her for actual walks, let her go out into my more urban backyard (my anxious mom and aunt made her void her waste on newspaper on their screened porch because they were afraid one of the canebrake rattlesnakes native to their suburban fringe would get her), and tell her “No” somewhat more often than they would, which was slightly less than never. But she was a wonderful dog, as all dogs are, so don’t denigrate any of them.
My mother had one when I was young. It wasn’t a bad animal (there aren’t bad animals, including coyotes who were here first), but it’s a dog like a golf cart is a truck. Have whatever legal animal you want, just accept that you have to take care of it. If someone is essentially knowingly dragging the land equivalent of fishing bait around a predator that lives in a near constant state of unpredictable meal frequency and ends up getting followed and possibly attacked, that’s on them. Obviously, little dogs have to be walked, too, so take a big stick or bear spray or whatever with you and maybe avoid wooded areas if you know you live among coyotes. The answer isn’t to murder all coyotes for convenience, it’s to understand the environment and take reasonable precautions. Coyotes are an important part of the ecosystem, they keep rodent and deer populations (somewhat) under control, which also helps reduce tick borne disease transmission and car-deer collisions. Every cat or small dog we essentially hand to them makes the problem worse for both parties. Many pets are a much easier meal than a wild animal and the coyotes come to associate proximity to us with easier food rather than staying away and contributing positively to the local environment by keeping wild animal populations at bay. Then they get bolder, then there’s outcry to do something about it, the town organizes killing a bunch of them, coyote’s natural prey breed out of control for a short time before new coyotes move back in, and the cycle repeats when all people had to do in the first place was be a little less selfish. I don’t know why I would expect anything less than resistance to such a sacrilegious belief as accountability.
Shooting is but one method. I’m sure animal control has their own contributions.
Not anywhere in So. Cal. .
My solution is 8′ fencing, my neighborhood is full of hungry coyotes but they go for the easy prey first .
-Nate
Then shooting it is.
Or, poisoning, I live in town and the nervous nellies here would freak if I were to shoot anything .
-Nate
You’d need to be very careful to only get coyotes with poison though.
If the problem with your neighbors is noise then an air gun might do the trick. I know at least one hunter that has used small air guns to quietly hunt turkeys in his NIMBY thick neighborhood:
https://www.airgundepot.com/big-bore-airguns.html?ProductUse=Hunting
Some of these can take down boar very quietly so a coyote shouldn’t be a problem
Open season here.
Some on my road hunt them with night vision.
Coyote have been taking cattle these days.
A coyote attacked a 6yo playing ball in an LA park just a few days ago:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Family/mom-boy-attacked-coyote-speaks-urges-aware-surroundings/story?id=124460407
Last year there were a few attacks in DFW:
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/coyote-captured-after-3-kids-reportedly-bitten-at-arlington-city-park/3461647/
Seattle:
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/bellevue-coyote-attacks
Frisco TX:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/coyote-attacks-child-8-in-frisco/ar-AA1FFDIf
Renton WA:
https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/state/washington/article297929668.html
LA:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/04/us/coyote-attack-los-angeles-girl
All from the past couple of years and I’m sure there are much more.
Yikes!
There’s at least one confirmed adult fatal attack too.
Before I was here, with active guard dogs on the property, there were animals lost during daytime, at least 20 years ago.
I don’t have watchdogs, so I try to keep an eye out.
The theory is coyotes are changing their diet and going after larger animals. The adult human hiker in this example was killed by coyotes that now hunt moose:
“According to a paper published last month in the Journal of Applied Ecology, he along with a crew of wildlife researchers found that coyotes in the region of Mitchell’s attack have adopted an unusual dietary change. Rather than rely on smaller mammals like rodents, birds and snakes for food, they seem to be hunting moose for their meals due to extreme climate conditions forcing the former to move away.
As such, the team believes it’s possible these coyotes learned to attack larger mammals, like humans, and are therefore more prone to killing people.”
…
“on average, moose constituted between half and two-thirds of the animals’ diets, followed by snowshoe hare, small mammals and deer, according to the press release.”
https://www.cnet.com/science/biology/scientists-now-know-why-coyotes-unexpectedly-killed-a-human-in-2009/
Let that sink in for a sec. Those killer coyotes were regularly hunting MOOSE.
The authors also said:
“The lines of evidence suggest that this was a resource-poor area with really extreme environments that forced these very adaptable animals to expand their behavior,” Gehrt said. Or as the paper puts it, “our results suggest extreme unprovoked predatory attacks by coyotes on people are likely to be quite rare and associated with unique ecological characteristics.”
So by taking away cats and dogs you’re just putting yourself on the menu of urban coyotes.
Coyote seem suddenly very extensive in the southeast and are probably hunting out their territory.
I first saw one in Arkansas up close and it was running flat out.
They have been an issue there for years and are shot on sight.
I guess I’m doing it all wrong. I have more cars now than ever with 3 kids and only 1 is driving age. I keep saying I’m saving certain cars for the other 2 but I just like hanging onto to stuff.
I’m lucky I have a big barn and lots of space to hide all of my junk.
I effectively have unlimited parking now, but no barn.
Yardwork is effectively infinite too.
MUCH better decision than selling Delmar (NHRN). We ditched our 1988 Firebird when our first arrived, and bought a minivan, sigh…
Personally I think the J10 is your coolest car, so I’m glad you’re keeping it.
Hey, the market on kids is only going up. /s
Good choice. The 3B being fully open could barely baby to the standards of 1954, which were “try not to let the kid fall out of the moving car.”
Sold my 1991 Corvette when we had a baby. I don’t really miss that car, either. I caused trouble and got me in trouble and the teal was pretty polarizing. It was like a rolling argument.
I discovered it’s actually not a bad idea to sell some of the cars your kid may end up getting attached to before they’re old enough to do so. My daughter remembers riding around in our Spring Green 1957 Plymouth and still gives me crap about selling it.
She also remembers when I sold our big beautiful blue 1988 Cadillac Brougham. Said she was a little traumatized as she didn’t yet understand exchanging-something-for-money and thought the guy that bought it was stealing it from us when he drove off.
You could tell her it’s her fault you had to sell it. /s
“No, I sold a classic car and whatever was in the trunk. Now… had you cut me in…”
I’m up to 4 vehicles, after being given two this year. Still trying to figure out what to do with that, there’s a plan for one of them, but it will still leave me with 4 in a place that I can realistically only park 3, but it’ll work. Right?
Good job selling it.
The look in your little kid’s eyes when you get home from work… there’s just no substitute for it. Just wait until he can run at you with his arms up. The best!
the J10 Versus the K1500 would definitely be a fight in my head. the K1500 is and will be much easier in the long run, especially if it just sits around a lot more, but the J10 is kind of rare and in that regard more interesting to me. Still I would probably want to get rid of one of them too.
Congrats on the sale!
Onward to the next decluttering project!
Good call, Being a responsible father means making choices. Well done.
Autopian 2042: I’m going to try to fix the 50 year old husk of my first Jeep as a high school graduation present for my son, can I get it running again in a week?
Oh crap, 2042 is only 17 years away. Yikes.
Yeah, the ’90s were only… What?!? 30 Years ago!!! JFC, as a kid the Beatles stuff was only 15-20 or so….
The ’90s were my high school and college years.
I remember when The Beatles landed……
-Nate
Alternate take:
Autopian Jan 1, 2030:
Sorry but Autopian is shutting down because DT has 3 kids, lives in California, and cannot afford child-care and does not have the time to run a website and take care of three little monsters.
Sold all his cars, too.
Yawn. I sold a Fiat Abarth 850TC and a Fiat Abarth 1000 OTS when our Sprout was on the way.
Now I’m sad!
Thanks, Me sad too, but they went to a very good home and 36 years later I’m well aware that hardware joy is nice but does not compare.
Maybe Delmar can help you reach the tight spots?
Makes me think of Ron Swanson: “My son is several weeks old. He is quite familiar with the sound of power tools.”
Time is a resource you can never replenish. Funny that as you get older it just seems to fly by even faster. Congrats David, this day was coming we all kind of suspected. So instead of mailing members vials of rust I guess you can justify dropping baby formula into them.
The older I get, the less time I have. Part of me is OK with that, we are spending more time travelling, less on the mundane. My kid is an adult now and a shift is occurring. I want to do work I want to do, not need to.
Drive that K1500 back to Michigan, people there will fight over a rust free truck!
This – just cross the Rockies with it. It will be bought in a heartbeat anywhere East of the Mississippi and North of Tennessee.
I’m trying to stay at 3 since I sold the Bugeye WRX. My driveway/street/garage is easy to manage at 3, kind of a pain at 4 and miserable at 5.
But I do look at MR2’s on Marketplace too much for comfort. (Single dude, just not set up for parking.)
I am at that point with 8 cars and two motorcycles. I really need to offload a few to be honest.
Wait. I figured this out. Kuniskis’ plan to save Stellantis is to install David Tracy at the end of their assembly line. David’s job is to fix the factory-installed defects before the cars make it to dealerships. In exchange, their marketing department will be instructed to read every Autopian article to give them more page views.
It’s actually the best and most coherent turnaround plan that Stellantis has come up with in decades.
I was hoping it would be more along the lines of Stellantis deciding that their Easter Jeep Safari concepts were just the same old boring formula of big tires and teenager graphics, and are having David turn his projects into the EJS concepts instead.
No, David is the ‘Rust Fairy’ adding that special something to the mix.
Here’s how I learned to love only having a minivan and a lexus Rx….article in three two one… Welcome to the brotherhood.
I kept a snowmobile for way too long after I had my child. I thought it was a last grasp of freedom but in reality it was an anchor. I sold it to my retired neighbor for a song because I knew he had the cabin up north to truly appreciate her.
Is this the same buyer as the last article?
Sure is!